ENG-1960 — Page 103

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INDUSTRY AND TRADE

chief products entering the re-export trade are again textiles, fruits and vegetables, animal and vegetable crude materials, medicinal and pharmaceutical products and machinery.

TRADE DEVELOPMENTS

The expansion of Hong Kong's export trade in domestic products continued during the year despite significant increases in tariff restrictions and even some open discrimination against the import of the Colony's goods into foreign markets. One encouraging feature has been the consolidation of markets in the more highly industrialized countries of Europe, in particular the Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. This interest betokens improvements in the quality of Hong Kong's products, since competitive prices alone would not attract regular orders in these areas.

In terms of value the principal increase lay once again in the export of garments. The trade in rubber footwear held its own, despite extensive tariff protection of domestic industries overseas, but exports of leather footwear fell off sharply. Other declining exports included household enamelware, iron scrap and grey cotton yarn and thread; happily, increases in a wide range of other commodities more than redressed the balance.

The Hong Kong Textiles Negotiating Committee's voluntary agreement to restrict the exports of certain types of cotton manu- factures to the United Kingdom for a period of three years entered its second year on 1st February 1960. The early misgivings of the Colony's textile industrialists, so apparent during the negotiations, in no way abated with the passage of time. During 1960 many big orders were lost, particularly for grey cloth, owing to insuffi- ciency of the Colony's quota and, to its chagrin, the weaving industry saw trade with the United Kingdom which it might other- wise have enjoyed lost not only to India and Pakistan but also to certain non-Commonwealth countries which had previously scarcely entered the United Kingdom market.

Lord Rochdale, chairman of the United Kingdom Cotton Board, visited the Colony in November and renewed contacts with former members of the committee which had negotiated the agreement and met a number of other leading persons in industry and

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